Is This Thing On?
by notaguitar
Summary: Barnaby buys a video camera that Kotetsu decides to play around with.


**A/N:** So this is only rated due to the language and implied thoughts about sex. There's no sex, if that's what you're here for :0 Though, I do want to continue this with a smutty-sequel, but I'm not sure. Anyways, it's a bit long, and not a lot happens, but hopefully you can enjoy it!  
>Also, sorry if someone has done something like this before. I'm the king of unoriginality.<p>

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><p>"This is a special hero TV broadcast, live from Wild Tiger's cool apartment," Kotetsu cooed cheerfully into a handheld video camera. Quickly flipping the view, as to project his apartment on film, the older man grinned and put on his best announcer imitation voice. "Only the coolest of the cool would live in such an awesome place. Isn't that right, Barnaby?"<p>

Kotetsu pivoted the camera towards the couch where Barnaby sat, sporting a less than impressed expression. He shook his head in an exaggerated fashion to ensure it would be caught on camera. With a fake sound of hurt, Kotetsu clicked his tongue and walked to the couch. "But it's so cool, right Barnaby? Agree for the fans!"

"You have the vocabulary of a twelve year old," Barnaby grumbled, shoving the camera to the side when Kotetsu went in for a close-up. "Quit messing around with that. I knew I shouldn't have brought it over."

Still flashing a huge smile, Kotetsu flopped on the couch beside his young partner. Fiddling with the zoom buttons, he made an extreme close-up on the zipper of Barnaby's coat. "Hey, we're havin' fun, relax!"

"Just don't be too rough with it, it was expensive."

Mindlessly nodding along, the brunette haired man rolled onto his back, resting his head in Barnaby's lap. Forcing the camera obnoxiously close to Barnaby's face, Kotetsu continued his sports commentator impression:

"Now Barnaby, just what in the world is a young man of your social status and current occupation doing with a small handheld camera? Are your intentions for this device purely innocent, or is there a Barnaby Brooks Jr. sex scandal video that the public should be aware of!" The camera zoomed out, catching the entirety of Barnaby's distraught face in the frame.

Distraught Barnaby happened to look a lot cuter than angry Barnaby, or so Kotetsu thought. The blonde's face was painted with a bright red blush of embarrassment, his lips tightened into a disapproving scowl and his eyes narrowed towards the playful man behind the camera. "How many women have been captured on film using the very same device I hold within my hands? How many leaked videos are on countless websites! The possibilities are endless; please enlighten your fan base!"

"Stop it, you're acting like a child," Barnaby finally said, clearly flustered by Kotetsu's joking.

"Uh-oh," Kotetsu feigned nervousness while panning the camera to his own face. "I'm not hearin' any straight answers. We've got a full-blown code blue disaster, folks. Barnaby the hero has been sleepin' around with countless women and recording it for fetish websites all across the world wide web! Just what will the tabloids say!"

"That's enough," Barnaby growled more than tired of Kotetsu's antics. He snatched the camera from Kotetsu's hands, slapping the screen shut. "You're pissing me off." Barnaby glared down at the man who was still lying in his lap.

"Whoa, whoa, relax I was only messin' around," Kotetsu gazed up at Barnaby before sitting up to move from the younger man's lap. He stayed close to him, scrutinizing Barnaby's face to decipher what the true problem was here. "Why are you gettin' so mad over a dumb joke? It's nothing."

"Nothing?" Barnaby scoffed. He rose from the couch headed towards anywhere that wasn't directly beside Kotetsu. "Nothing, despite the fact that you're insulting me, alluding to the fact that I may be promiscuous, and basically making a mockery of my fans. All while pointlessly recording it in some lame fake voice. So, I suppose that yes that is indeed, nothing."

An instant feeling of guilt hit Kotetsu like a ton of bricks. Barnaby's sudden vicious outburst of anger was unexpected. Kotetsu was taken aback by the accusations Barnaby was throwing at him, because to Kotetsu it was all in good fun, and he had hardly intended to be hurtful in any way.

"Bunny, I was kidding," Kotetsu said as sincerely as he could. Moving across the furniture to where Barnaby stood in the kitchen he continued: "I wasn't tryin' to imply anything about you, or your fans, or anything bad. I was messin' around. Don't be annoyed with me."

The blonde's eyes were narrowed, leering at Kotetsu like he was the scum of the earth. A frown, far more disgruntled than one Kotetsu had ever seen was plastered on Barnaby's lips. When Kotetsu really thought about it, he could almost feel the anger radiating from his young partner.

Before Barnaby spoke, he looked very thoughtful, still enraged, but there was definitely a fair amount of thinking going into what he was about to say. The rage in his eyes quelled slightly as he spoke: "You don't honestly think I'd buy it for something like that?" Barnaby inquired the fierce edge in his tone still highly noticeable.

"Somethin' like what?" Kotetsu squinted. On one hand, Kotetsu thought he knew what Barnaby was talking about, but the meaning of their argument was slowly losing ground with Kotetsu, and he wasn't entirely sure what had upset Barnaby to this point.

"The..." Barnaby's face looked more docile than before, as though the anger had been transformed into discomfort. Adjusting his glasses and huffing out an exasperated breathe he finished: "For the sex tape thing..."

"Sex tapes?" Kotetsu sputtered, trying hard to mask the laugh he wanted to burst into. "That's why you're so mad? Cos you think I thought..." Kotetsu raised his hand to cover his own mouth, literally holding back his laughter.

"Why is that so funny?" Barnaby hissed crossing his arms in front of his chest. The glare returned to his face, but the pink blush of embarrassment had yet to leave his cheeks.

"No," Kotetsu chuckled, wiping a stray tear from his eye. This was too ridiculous not to enjoy. Despite his need to continue laughing, Kotetsu pressed onward, snickering briefly every few words: "No, Bunny, I don't think you bought your fancy new video camera in order to record one night stands with random women. And I offer a sincere apology if that's what you got from what I said." When he managed to get to the end of the sentence, Kotetsu was unable to hold back from hysterical laughter.

After a few moments of hardy laughter from Kotetsu and awkward silence from Barnaby, the older man managed to gather himself enough to stand up straight again.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but wow," Kotetsu smiled, letting out a soft puff of breathe. "I just really didn't think tha-"

"You kept saying 'women'," Barnaby interrupted with a level and serious gaze into Kotetsu's eyes.

"...What?"

"Women. You kept saying videos with women."

Unable to grasp what was happening, Kotetsu could only frown in confusion. Tilting his head to the side, maintaining the strong eye contact Barnaby had started, Kotetsu cleared his throat.

"Well, what's the problem with that?" Kotetsu asked innocuously, lost in honest and hopeless bewilderment.

"I don't _like_ women," Barnaby said bluntly, putting a specifically forceful emphasis on the word 'like'. "And I don't want to have a one night stand with a _woman_." That special emphasis again. Kotetsu felt his throat dry up, rendering his voice useless.

Heat flushed over his face and Kotetsu felt like he had been punched in the gut. This seemed like an extremely inappropriate time for Barnaby to come out, Kotetsu criticized internally...

Unless the timing was intentional. That thought sparked instant and overwhelming worry in Kotetsu. Warily he raised an eyebrow to his partner. Clearing his throat again, this time more gruffly, Kotetsu began speaking:

"Oh, well, whatever you prefer. Didn't mean to offend," Kotetsu tossed the other man an honest smile, desperately working on damage control for their friendship. Cautiously, he stepped back from the young blonde. "I just assumed you... well,... Yeah, that was kinda careless of me, huh?"

Barnaby's eyes flickered away from Kotetsu's. Considering their line of work, both men were keen observers of body language, and Barnaby had instantly noticed the older man's attempt to back away. The straightened frown on Barnaby's mouth twitched. "I bought it to use it with you."

"_With _me?" Kotetsu mimicked the same emphasis Barnaby had use moments earlier. "Or with me?" No emphasis.

"Which do you think?" Barnaby lowered his eyes, peering at Kotetsu over his glasses.

Unsure of how to answer, the older man loosely shrugged his shoulders. The apartment felt like it was one thousand degrees, and accompanied by the trembling Kotetsu couldn't stop his body from doing, everything was only getting worse. Kotetsu loosened the tie that felt like it was strangling him.

"_With_ you." Barnaby answered for him, yet didn't approach Kotetsu at all. The young man stood confidentially in his place, watching Kotetsu struggle to remain calm.

Imagery, ideas, and idle fantasies Kotetsu had envisioned on days where he was bored, or the nights when he got too lonely, flashed through his mind. It's not like he hadn't daydreamed about being in relationships with men, Barnaby specifically. The blonde had a very feminine and masculine physical appearance, it seemed impossible to not be attracted to him. Not to mention the two of them were essentially forced to be around each other day in and day out, with little separation from each other Kotetsu assumed it was natural for non-serious feelings to crop up. But the thought of actually engaging in any of those errant dreams was impossible, completely unthinkable.

"You came here today with that... thinkin' that we..." Kotetsu couldn't keep his words in order. Everything seemed like a blur, the pieces of the puzzle all falling into order in a way that Kotetsu never would have anticipated. "Bunny, no, I-I'm... I can't, please don't, please," Kotetsu pleaded, but even he wasn't sure was he was begging for. All the nerves in Kotetsu's body felt like they were seizing, pinching his muscles and driving him to want to scream. This was too sudden, too random, too unexpected. Then the room literally was a blur. A blob of colours and objects crammed into a small, hot space that seemed air-tight and impossible to move in. Kotetsu raised his hand to his forehead, covering his face. A pain started sharp in his temples shot down through Kotetsu's body; he was helpless to stop himself from slipping out of consciousness.

_Why is this happening?_

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><p>When Kotetsu was back to awareness, he realized he was lying down on the couch. When he sat up in alarm, a wet cloth fell from his forehead, plopping onto his lap. Looking down at the soggy cloth, Kotetsu tried to recall everything that had happened.<p>

It all came screaming back to him in an instant, Barnaby and him getting in that argument, the video camera, and the _intentions _Barnabyy had for the video camera.

"Bunny!" Kotetsu then exclaimed aloud upon suddenly remembering Barnaby.

"Kotetsu?" Barnaby's voice came from behind him, somewhere in the vicinity of the kitchen.

Kotetsu waited as he heard Barnaby's footsteps draw closer. When Barnaby came into view, his face was plagued with worry. "Oh, you're awake, are you alright?" Barnaby was at Kotetsu's side, sitting by the couch. He placed a glass of water and some fruit in front of Kotetsu on the table. "Eat or drink something."

Still feeling hazy and lightheaded, Kotetsu wanted to know what happened before doing anything. He set his legs down over the edge of the couch, nudging a knee against Barnaby's shoulder. "What happened?"

"You passed out," Barnaby said, grabbing the glass from the table and pushing it into Kotetsu's hands. "You were talking and then started to wobble. Drink."

If only to silence Barnaby's nagging insistence, Kotetsu took a sip of the water. Admittedly, the waters' frozen temperature felt refreshing as he drank but Kotetsu wasn't thirsty. The ice cubes within the glass clanked together softly as Kotetsu replaced the beverage onto the table. "I passed out?"

"Yes. I had to carry you over here. It's only been a couple minutes or so," Barnaby's voice began to sound less panicked, but hints of anxiety still lingered within his tone. "Are you certain you're feeling alright? Should we go to the hospital?"

"I'm alright," Kotetsu responded while grimacing. It was nice that Barnaby had decided to stay with him, but Kotetsu wasn't exactly sure how to deal with their current issue. "Look, about everything..."

"Don't." Barnaby said, he raised a hand in front of his face waving it back and forth. "It was foolish for me to do this in the first place; I didn't intend to put you in such a compromising situation." Barnaby's eyes seemed to glisten in an oddly alluring way, perhaps it was tears, or maybe it was just the light, Kotetsu wasn't entirely sure. "It's been a stupid idea of mine, but it was stupider of me to think you would possibly be interested."

"Hey, we all have stupid ideas sometimes," Kotetsu smiled, resting his hand on Barnaby's head, ruffling the blonde's hair.

"Not this level of stupidity," Barnaby murmured. "But thank-you for trying to make me feel better."

At that, Kotetsu glanced to the video camera on the table. The little device that had got them into this awkward situation to begin with. It seemed absurd that such an idiotic machine could raise tension like this. Grabbing it off the table, Kotetsu flipped it open, snapped on the 'on' button and turned the camera towards him.

Ensuring that the device was properly in focus, Kotetsu placed it back on the table. He then eased off the couch, sinking to ground level with Barnaby. Pivoting the camera so make sure they were both in the frame, he took Barnaby by the chin.

"Sometimes stupid stuff isn't always so bad," Kotetsu said softly before he leaned forward to place a soft kiss on Barnaby's lips.


End file.
